James 1:4

And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

     Endurance is key to the Christian life. Here James even tells us we need our endurance to be complete so that we might be complete. It is even the key to lacking nothing. If it is our desire to be strong Christians, we must learn self-discipline. We need the ability, strength and will power to carry on even when things get tough. In our daily walks, life gets incredibly difficult. Temptations are thrown before us, discouragement lurks at every corner, and life sometimes seems to conspire against us. When all of this happens, we need to be able to stand strong for the Lord.

     We grow discipline through two very similar ways. The first is what James talks about in the preceeding verses. Endurance comes through the trials we face. This means that we need to be joyful about any such trials. When they are thrown are way we can look at them as an oppurtunity for personal growth. We know that with any temptation, God provides a way of escape. That means that when a temptation comes before us, we have the ability to overcome it. When we overcome it, we gain strength for the next battle. And it will continue to grow, helping our endurance to become complete.

     The second method is more active where the first was reactive. Rather than waiting for a trial to come upon us, we can grow in strength by pushing ourselves. The easiest example is found in excercise. By pushing ourselves to get off the couch and work out, we can start a pattern of self-discipline. The more we do it, the more routine it becomes. The same can be said for our spiritual lives. Instead of waiting for some sort of trial or disaster to come upon us we can get off of our spiritual couch. We can look for oppurtunities to do good works. We can make the time to study God’s word and pray to Him. In doing so, it too wil become more and more routine. We just have to make ourselves do it. But the result is worth it since the man who is perfect in spiritual endurance becomes perfect and complete according to the word of God.

And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.